At Nomination Hearing, Trump Nominee for CEA Chair Failed to Answer Basic Facts When Pressed on Trump’s Economy

At Nomination Hearing, Trump Nominee for CEA Chair Failed to Answer Basic Facts When Pressed on Trump's Economy

"Americans are paying higher and higher prices while they watch the Trump Administration spend tax dollars on gold leaf instead of lowering costs. They deserve nominees who won't just bow down to President Trump, but who will stand up for working people in this country."

Watch hearing here (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, delivered opening remarks at a nomination hearing on Trump's picks for Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christopher Phelan, Chair of the National Credit Union Administration, John Crews, and Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Jeffrey Ledbetter.

During Phelan's questioning from the Ranking Member, the nominee repeatedly failed to answer basic factual questions on the economy. Senator Warren made clear that "we need someone who will tell the truth about the economy, and not just say whatever it is the President wants to hear." Phelan's failure to answer basic questions Warren emphasized, "disqualified himself in five minutes."

Below is Ranking Member Warren's opening statementas delivered:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. American families are facing an affordability crisis. They are being squeezed by rising costs, and this Administration's response has been a one-two punch of indifference and gaslighting disguised as economic policy.

Grocery prices just had their biggest hike in years. Gas prices are up 40% just since the start of the year. A third of American households report struggling to pay their utility bills. And more and more Americans are falling behind on their credit card debt.

Meanwhile, President Trump is building his $600 million gilded ballroom - with half of it being paid for by American taxpayers. And when asked about rising costs from his illegal war with Iran, Trump said "I don't think about Americans' financial situation."

Let that sink in: the man who started a war that's driven inflation to higher and higher levels and made families pay $43 billion more just on gasoline in the last three months told Americans that their financial pain isn't even on his radar. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Trump has made clear that he is spending this presidency making himself and his buddies vastly richer-and letting the American people pay the price.

And when Congress actually did something to lower costs, Trump stood in the way. This week, the Senate and the House passed our 21st Century Road to Housing Act with overwhelming bipartisan support-legislation that will help us build more housing, bring down costs, and, for the first time ever, stop private equity from snapping up homes that families are trying to buy. We should have been here today celebrating its becoming law yesterday. Instead, President Trump refused to sign it. It is the latest example of a President who doesn't think about families, doesn't care about lowering costs, and in his own words, "loves the inflation."

Today, this Committee has another slate of President Trump's nominees - nominees who will be expected to defend, implement, and try to excuse Trump's willingness to turn his back on Americans' financial worries.

Starting with Dr. Phelan, the nominee to chair the Council of Economic Advisers which advises the President on economic policy.

Earlier this week, we held a hearing on affordability - that's a word President Trump last week dismissed as a "fake word made up by the Democrats." As CEA Chair, Dr. Phelan would be responsible for advising the President on every tool the White House has at its disposal to bring down costs. But to do that job, he must first be willing to tell the truth: Trump's chaotic tariffs and reckless war with Iran are driving up costs for American families. A CEA Chair who won't say that plainly is not an economic advisor; he's just a mouthpiece. And if Mr. Phelan cannot be honest about the problem, then he will have no credible plan to fix it.

Mr. Crews has been nominated to Chair the National Credit Union Administration. Credit unions need a stable and thoughtful regulator, especially as smaller financial institutions work to remain competitive in the face of AI and cryptocurrencies. Undermining the Board's independence now, at this moment of transition, puts the members that credit unions serve at greater risk, and yet, when we met, Mr. Crews was so beholden to Trump's lackeys that he was unwilling even to acknowledge the law or the merits of having a full bipartisan Board at the NCUA to support its work.

Mr. Ledbetter, you have been nominated to be the Inspector General at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Now, I appreciate your stated commitment to Inspector General independence, but this administration has demonstrated a shocking willingness to browbeat and to fire IGs whose sin is that they follow the law. Independence on paper means nothing if it collapses under Trump's pressure. The acting HUD IG is already engaging in politically-driven efforts to punish blue cities, while failing to hold HUD accountable for illegally dismantling civil rights enforcement and all this happens right in the middle of a housing crisis.

This committee should not simply wave through nominees who will be on the front lines of implementing Trump's disastrous policies. Americans are paying higher and higher prices while they watch the Trump Administration spend their tax dollars on gold leaf instead of lowering costs. Americans deserve nominees who won't just bow down to President Trump, but who will stand up for working people in this country.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

Below is Ranking Member Warren's exchangewith the witnesses as delivered:

Ranking Member Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So, Dr. Phelen, if you are confirmed, your job would be to advise President Trump on economic policy. The Council of Economic Advisers is "charged with offering the President objective economic advice." Not political advice, objective economic advice.

So, let's go through a few objective facts.

• Americans are spending more on everything from gas to groceries.
• Prices are rising faster than paychecks.
• And Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill rips away healthcare coverage for 15 million people in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations-and it adds $4.7 trillion to the national debt.

And that is why we need someone who will tell the truth about the economy, and not just say whatever it is the President wants to hear.

So, you have a PhD in Economics from a prestigious university. You've been a professor for nearly 30 years, you've taught thousands of students by this point. On paper, you look like someone who should be able to provide objective advice, so I have some questions, and quite frankly, I hope these are really easy questions for you.

President Trump promised to bring prices down on "Day One." Is headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?

Dr. Phelan: Thank you, Senator. Headline inflation now is certainly lower than it was during the Biden administration.

Ranking Member Warren: I'm sorry, come on, let's not play this game. You heard my question. President Trump was sworn in in January 2025 under the promise he would lower the costs on day one. The question I am asking is, is inflation, headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025. It's a fact question.

Dr Phelan: Thank you, Senator. There's a reason economists tend to focus on core inflation and that is because food and energy is quite volatile. Core inflation is lower than when President Trump took office.

Ranking Member Warren: We'll do core. Can you give me the answer on headline inflation. I don't want to know how fast you can dance, I want to know if you can answer simple, factual questions. That's all I'm looking for here.

Dr. Phelan: Thank you, Ranking Member. I do not know exactly what the headline inflation was on January 20, 2025.

Ranking Member Warren: 2.8%. So, answer the question, is headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?

Dr. Phelan: Headline inflation now, the last one was, year over year, 4.2%.

Ranking Member Warren: Okay, so is 4.2% higher than 2.8%?

Dr. Phelan: Ranking Member, yes it is.

Ranking Member Warren: Oh wow, was that so hard? You know, you're going to be the guy called on to give real facts. So let me try another one. Is annual inflation higher than wage growth today?

Dr. Phelan: Thank you, Ranking Member. There has been, since President Trump took office, weekly inflation-adjusted earnings are higher now than they were the day President Trump took office.

Ranking Member Warren: The question I asked you, is inflation higher than wage growth right now? In other words, even if families are getting raises on average are they falling behind because of inflation?

Dr. Phelan: Thank you, Ranking Member. I do think it's important to have an appropriate timeframe when considering anything like this -

Ranking Member Warren: Now, that's your time frame.

Dr. Phelan: The appropriate timeframe is when President Trump took office -

Ranking Member Warren: The question is - I just want a fact. If somebody says to you, today are families getting ahead or falling behind, you got one word to answer that. What's your word?

Dr. Phelan: My word is at - real wages are higher now -

Ranking Member Warren: At? That's your one word. At? Alright let's play it this way. You already told me inflation is 4.2%, right? What's the annual wage growth right now? Just a fact question.

Dr. Phelan: Thank you, Senator. I don't have that in front of me right now.

Ranking Member Warren: It's 3.4%. So let's put this one together, is 4.2 higher than 3.4?

Dr. Phelan: I will repeat what I said, which is real wage growth in this administration is positive.

Ranking Member Warren: The- It is right now families are falling behind. And I gotta say, I can keep this one up fact after fact, but you have now made clear what your position is. And that is that you can't even do the basic facts. I didn't even get to the hard questions here about what this means. I just want to start with what the facts are. These are facts that come out of the Trump administration, they're there for anybody to see and you can't bring yourself as the person who sits there and says I want to be the head of the Council of Economic Advisors, oh I'm sorry, to give objective economic advise, and you can't even say, yeah, inflation is running higher than wages right now?

Sen. Rounds: And we're still gonna try to keep it on behalf of the Chairman to five minutes.

Ranking Member Warren: Fair enough, I think this person has disqualified himself in five minutes.

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